Historic tax credits work as intended

All hail the Historic Tax Credit! It’s not just for oldbuilding huggers and history buffs. The program provides a 20 percent federal tax credit to property owners who rehabilitate historic buildings for business use or to produce income. There are about 40 of them in the core of Oklahoma City. The Skirvin Hotel is the biggest and best known — so far. Gary Brooks’ work to save First National Center, the biggest and most widely known project now underway, is giving the Skirvin a run for the money and the history books. Consider these stats from the National Park Service, which handles the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program in cooperation with the State Historic Preservation Offices. They’re from a new report — by the park service and Rutgers University’s Center for Urban Policy Research — outlining the national economic impact of historic tax credits for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, and for the life of the program since 1977-1978. Fiscal year 2017 Oklahoma: $47.3 million of private investment was expended in rehabilitation costs, supporting 933 jobs, 33.7 million in income, 47.3 million in gross domestic product, and $90.3 million in output. It generated $1.1 million in local taxes, $1.6 million in state taxes, and $8.1 million in federal taxes, for a total of $10.9 million. United States: $6.47 billion of private investment was expended in rehabilitation costs, supporting 106,861 jobs, $4.57 billion in income, $6.22 billion in gross domestic product, and $12.18 billion in output. It generated $309.6 million in local taxes, $276.7 million in state taxes, and $1.08 billion in federal taxes, for a total of $1.67 billion.

Fiscal 1978-2017

United States: $144.6 billion of private investment was expended in rehabilitation costs, supporting 2.5 million jobs, $116.4 billion in income, $158.1 billion in gross domestic product, and $318 billion in output.

It generated $13 billion

in local and state taxes, and $32.4 billion in federal taxes, for a total of $45.4 billion.

The report concludes: “These leverage and multiplier effects support the economic argument that the (Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program) is a strategic investment that works.”

And it works where it’s supposed to, for the most part: 50 percent of projects were in low- and moderate-income census

tracts; and 79 percent were in economically distressed areas.

And here’s an important number for anyone who thinks the program is only for big cities and big projects like the Skirvin and First National Center: in fiscal year 2017, 37 percent of projects were in communities of fewer than 50,000 people.

“A common misconception ... is that it only supports large projects and projects in large cities.

Half of all projects in (fiscal year) 2017 were under $1 million, and 20 percent were under $250,000.”

As the late U.S. Sen. Everett Dirksen, R-Illinois, apparently did not say (it’s one of those famous misquotes), but it fits: “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you’re talking real money.”

To see the report, go to tinyurl.com/HTCimpact2017.